


Clearing the Chessboard

by Myrrlhe



Category: Dangan Ronpa - All Media Types, New Dangan Ronpa V3: Everyone's New Semester of Killing
Genre: Gen, Oma has feelings for shuichi:canon, Unreliable Narrator, the feelings are romantic: heavily implied in this piece
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-10-12
Updated: 2017-10-12
Packaged: 2019-01-16 12:32:10
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,422
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12342771
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Myrrlhe/pseuds/Myrrlhe
Summary: Maneuvering the chess pieces, he played against the killing game. In the end, he would win, no matter what.





	Clearing the Chessboard

**Author's Note:**

> So I finished DRV3 yesterday, and I have lots of feelings about Ouma. This is the result.

When Kokichi hears the black and white bear talk about the killing game and its rules, he recognizes there has to be an audience. He was the leader of D.I.C.E after all. Master of entertainment, in charge of making the world have a good laugh or two. The world was his stage, and the people in it were his target of course. He'd be a poor stage master indeed if he didn't realize this act sooner.

This game was no different. The school was the stage, and he and the other 15 students were the performers. He smiled bitterly. Forced performers, to be exact. What a farce of an act.

And the objective... Kokichi shivered in the comfort of his own room. To kill for amusement. The idea itself was abhorrent, but that wasn't what scared him. It was the fact that this idea was so similar to his own. To live for entertainment and amusement. That was what he, and apparently this game master was all about.

But to get that by killing... It turned his stomach. Was he being watched by the audience right now? Waiting for him to grab a knife and start chopping? No, they'd want something with more class, a mystery. They want a _show_.

A snicker slipped from his mouth. He'll see how this goes. Even have some enjoyment out of it whenever he can, what the hell. He's a master of lying after all, what's a few more lies going to do? Another snicker. Even if that was a lie to himself, it was so obviously fake.

He'll have to be patient. Moving his pawns slowly forward so his other pieces can move about. The game was still early, but he knew one thing for sure. He would win this game. No matter what.

* * *

Again in the confines of his own room, Kokichi let out a sigh. The first trial, and the first execution had just went by before his very eyes. The more the game progressed, the more positive he was of this being just a show. Why else would they make the execution so flashy? Why else would they stick to their own rules so badly? It wouldn't be much of a game if they did whatever they pleased, no?

Of all the surreal events, Kaede in particular stuck out to him. Poor Kaede. So determined to save everyone that she fell into the mastermind's trap. Said that she trusted everyone but couldn't even trust her own partner, to the point of murder. And now the ball of this game was now rolling thanks to her. So stupid and weak...but she wasn't boring. She deserved to hear that truth. He hoped that she knew it was.

Kokichi fell onto the bed, the mattress reverberating under his body. Catching the mastermind was a stupid idea. Both Rantarou and Kaede tried and died as a result. But that didn't mean there wasn't a mastermind. The idea that the sick game master was hiding among the rest of the fourteen students was definitely plausible. That idea came from Shuichi, didn't it? Interesting... He didn't think that weak detective was worth catching his eye.

Kokichi buried his face into the nearest pillow, the fresh smell sickeningly overwhelming. What would be the next motive? And what was his next move going to be? Mentally, he moved a knight into the open. Time to get more aggressive. To beat the mastermind at their own game. He laughed to no one in particular, maybe to the audience perhaps? Now which direction would he have to take to ruin this game as much as possible...?

* * *

Kokichi coughed, his throat still throbbing. That Maki was sure strong, as expected of an Ultimate assassin. A killer. Massaging his throat, he drank some panta. While that was entertaining enough, he didn't care what was going to happen to the girl. She was a killer after all.

More importantly, the killing game. His direct approach to face the motives had failed, due to the other's resistance. What a shame... They're so stubborn. And so untrusting. He laughed. That one was on him, but oh well. That was who he was, too late to change it, not that he wanted to. At least he learned that Gonta was truly a predictable person. So easy to use. He wrote that on his whiteboard. He had a feeling the large student would come in handy later.

He glanced at Shuichi's photo placed at the top right corner of the board. He still couldn't quite figure the detective out... He'd seemed so weak, and seemed to bow down to everyone, but was strong enough to face the truth and all of its pain. At least he was now, after Kaede's trial. The detective even seemed to use lies himself, like in the trial. He grinned. Shuichi was starting to interest him. Shuichi was still being supported by other people, but how much would he progress on his own?

Speaking of progress, it was time for his next move on the board. Kokichi scratched his neck. His initial move of being antagonistic was working pretty well. Now would he progress with it further to take control of the board, or veer into another tactic? There were still so many possibilities, like the lies he used so often. And it was all up to him, and no one else. Like how the game has wanted them to feel. Like how it always had been.

Well, technically not. He reached out to the box of blueprints, pulling out a sheet of paper. There was nothing concrete written down yet, only a few notes about effective methods on how to take down the exisals, and possibily the communication method of Monokuma and the probably existing audience. He'd have to rely on Miu to make the devices, as much as he didn't like her.

His eyes strayed over to the board again, lingering on the photo of Shuichi. Maybe it wouldn't hurt to work with someone else as well... Not like Miu, she was basically a factory for all intent and purposes. That pig didn't have anything else useful to offer other than that. Shuichi was different. The detective was...

He leaned back into the backrest of the chair, sighing theatrically to mask the smile. He'll just have to see what happens first. And if something did...he wouldn't mind.

* * *

Already the third trial had passed by, and with that three people were gone. In all of that, Kokichi found some comfort in that he wasn't getting used to the sight of death. As much as he changed and masked and hid, at least he was still here. For now.

The wax figure of Rantarou hung from the wall, heavily eyelashed eyes staring into him. He traced the figure's cheeckbones. It really was lifelike, like Rantarou would start talking any moment. Spilling about his secrets and what he'd knew. He knew about the hidden door, but how? By finding it like Shuichi, or by some other method? Snickering, Kokichi flicked Rantarou's nose. No use dwelling on it now.

He was now almost sure of the path he had to take. With Miu's gadgets, fighting Monokuma and the exisals head on was a possibility, but in this killing game, where nobody trusted each other? No. Maybe some would, like that annoying idiot Kaito, but then there were people like Miu. She was a coward, and cowards were dangerous. Besides nobody was ever going to trust him with the path of anatgonizing he carved for himself. Kokichi absentmindedly rubbed the bandage on his finger. Except for Suichi. He dug his nail into the wound, pain erasing his next thoughts.

There was only one direction left. To usurp the crown, dethroning the mastermind so the killing game would end. To win chess, you didn't have to take all the pieces, just corner the king itself.

But that would mean he had to sacrifce some pieces.

He had to. But he didn't want to. But he had to.

In the silence of his own room, it almost seemed reasonable. Just move the rook and a knight in the path of the queen, so he can move his pawn to the far end of the board safely. A simple diversion tactic.

It was necessary. This was the path he had to take. To win the game without playing, to beat the mastermind and the audience at their own game. It was. It was. To give them hell for making this hellish game. To avenge those who died. At this point even he didn't know where the lies ended. They were always a part of who he was, but even so. These lies were truths to the others, but at the same time wouldn't be. That was the magic of lies, after all. They could be anything, unlike the straight, hard, painful, and painful truth.

But even so.

He raised the bandaged finger to his lips, pretending the soft gauze was something else instead. Even if it was just another lie to himself, he was already made of lies in the first place. It didn't matter.

Of course, that was another lie.

* * *

It was almost over.

The wall of lies he had built up was now almost the truth. Just a few more moves and soon it would be. The 'truth' of the outside world and the remote control just had to be deployed for it to be a Checkmate. He laughed as he finished writing the message among the grass. The lies were truths, and the truth was a lie. And if that truth was a lie, were all of the other truths lies as well? Most likely. He laughed again, grin ear to ear. He was made of lies even more than he thought. How far did they truly go? Was he even real?

Well, even if that was a lie itself, it still was the truth for him. Besides he'd lost himself the moment he'd set his plan in the virtual world.

And now he was alone. Like always. Or was that a lie too?

It didn't matter. Like the blood on his hands. Like the tears Miu and Gonta shed. Like the hatred the rest felt for him. Like how he slapped away Shuichi's hand by acting out his desire for attention. All of his actions up to now.

The end was near. Check.

* * *

The arrows burned in his skin. He could feel the poison course through his veins, slowly but surely. Even so, he helped the recently antidote-fed Kaito up.

"What are you..." The look on the guy's face... He'd be laughing if he wasn't dying. Instead he explained his plans. His frustrations. His last ditch scheme to make an unsolvable mystery that not even the mastermind can solve. Well it wasn't last ditch, he had a whole script just in case he had to do this but he never imagined it would be used by Kaito of all people. He even said his suspicions about the game. It was incentive to make Kaito work with him of course, but he threw in Maki's life in there too. The more the merrier, right?

"You're seriously crazy, dude." Kaito muttered, shaking his head.

Kokichi laughed. That could be true. "But, y'know... At least I wasn't boring, right?" He didn't wait for a response, Kaito's face of confusion was good enough. There wasn't much time. So he went over the details of the plan, drawing it out, with a bit of the other student's help. When it was all done, he could feel his lungs starting to collapse. "It's getting...harder to breathe, so... Please, can you..."

"Hey, can I ask one thing?" Kaito looked at him in the eye for the first time with no anger. "You want to ruin this killing game, but... You kept saying how fun this game was." Really, he couldn't figure it out by his talks of defeating the game? An idiot till the end.

"That was a lie...obviously..." Quick as that, the composure he had maintained through the entire game unwraveled. "I had to think this game was fun to survive! I had to lie to myself!" He kept going, crying like a little kid. "The bastards who created this game to toy with our lives...and the shits enjoying it... They all...piss me off! Th-That's why...I'm willing to do whatever it takes...to end this game!" It wasn't the complete truth, but saying more would just throw Kaito's brain off.

With that, Kaito did as he was told. Dragging him on the floor, helping him reach the control panel for the hydraulic press. With clammy hands, he fixed the security camera at just the right angle. After pressing both start and stop buttons, he took off his jacket, ready to switch positions with the astronaut-in-training.

"You're underestimating Shuichi. He'll figure the truth out." Kaito blurted out as Kokichi handed over the jacket.

He weakly smiled. "We'll see." He didn't doubt Shuichi could. But if he could, maybe Shuichi would figure out his intentions too, let him win this game. That is, if Shuichi can even trust him. His smile took on a bitter tinge. He probably didn't. And that was fi-

It wasn't fine.

He was scared.

In front of the press, Kokichi closed his eyes. This was his choice, to not sacrifice other people like he did before. To end the killing game by his own hands. Was it for the others or himself? At this point he didn't know. Even to the end, he couldn't help but lie. The truth was just ever so frightening. But Shuchi embraced it, even as its thorn pierced his skin. He didn't have the energy to laugh at this point. A lie wanting to get close to the truth, what a paradox. Then again as shown previously, lies can be truths anytime. So it wasn't so strange after all.

He crawled into the gap and laid down. Even with Kaito's jacket the cold of iron made him shiver. It was going to end here. Who would remember him? There were the other D.I.C.E. members and maybe Shuichi. Shuchi. If the detective did figure this out, and solve the case, then he could end this game for him. That would be nice.

_Click._

His last words to the detective was 'thanks' right?

_Whirrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr..._

He hoped the detective would understand its meaning.

_SMASH_


End file.
